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Before they had quite reached the tent-house, Joanne put a detaining hand on his arm. "I don't want you to go back to the cabin to-night," she said. "The face at the window was terrible. I am afraid. I don't want you to be there alone." Her words sent a warm glow through him. "Nothing will happen," he assured her. "Quade will not come back."
Corrigan got up and walked to the window, from where he looked out at Manti. The town looked like an army camp. Lumber, merchandise, supplies of every description, littered the street in mounds and scattered heaps, awaiting the erection of tent-house and building.
Around the corner of the plaza a torn canvas sign before a dingy tent-house said: "Washing Done." And in through the open door they filed. A short, stout Frenchman, apparently, stood behind the board counter, and bowed at their approach. He wore a little black spike or goatee, and his face fairly shone above a collarless shirt. From a room behind sounded vigorous scrubbing and rinsing.
Before night closed their third day on the island Jenks managed to construct a roomy tent-house, with a framework of sturdy trees selected on account of their location. To these he nailed or tied crossbeams of felled saplings; and the tarpaulins dragged from the beach supplied roof and walls.
He did not speak of Tête Jaune again until they reached the Otto tent-house, and then only to assure her that he would call for her half an hour before the train was ready to leave. As soon as possible after that he went to the telegraph office and sent a long message to MacDonald. Among other things he told him to prepare their cabin for a lady guest.
At one of the windows a curtain was drawn back; a woman's face appeared for a moment silhouetted against inner light; then as swiftly withdrew. "Who was that?" asked Adrian, involuntarily reining in his mount. "Not " "Rosa Terranza," said Spear excitedly. They listened. From within the tent-house came a sound of hasty movements, whispering. The light winked out. A bolt was shot; then silence.
The younger of the two men looked at his companion without speaking. The other, old enough to regard feminine beauty as a trap and an illusion, turned aside to empty his mouth of a quid of tobacco, bent over, and pointed under the trees. "Can't miss it third tent-house on your right, with canvas striped like a barber-pole. That phonnygraff you hear is at Bill's." "Thank you." She went on.
Here and there a light burned in a dwelling or store, or shone through the wall of a tent-house. But Manti's one street was deserted the only peace that Manti ever knew, had descended.
This morning Aldous followed a narrow path that brought him behind the tent-house. He heard no voices. A few steps more and he emerged upon a scene that stopped him and set his heart thumping. Less than a dozen paces away stood Mrs. Otto and Joanne, their backs toward him.
He always liked to come up to the Otto home very early of a morning, or in the dusk of evening. Very frequently he was filled with a desire to stand outside the red-and-white striped walls of the tent-house and listen unseen.
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